Pragmatism, Politics, and the Spirit of Tragedy

Pragmatism, Politics, and the Spirit of Tragedy

John Patrick Diggins discusses themes in two of his books: The Promise of Pragmatism: Modernism and the Crisis of Knowledge and Authority (1994) and Max Weber: Politics and the Spirit of Tragedy (1996). (27 minutes)
Haunted by entropy

Haunted by entropy

John Patrick Diggins on Henry Adams’s fear that “science will wreck us.”
The problem of authority is the problem of unbelief

The problem of authority is the problem of unbelief

John Patrick Diggins on Max Weber’s struggle to imagine social order without authority